Glasstream begins facility expansion

Glasstream Powerboats started construction to expand its facility in Dothan, Ala. The fishboat builder told the Dothan Eagle that construction crews are installing the foundation for a 13,500-square-foot expansion that will allow it to increase production by 50 percent.

“We need it up quickly,” Ashley Strong, Glasstream director of marketing and public relations, told the paper. “Sales have tripled in the last couple of years. The big-boat market is crazy. The economy has been great.”

It will increase the new manufacturing space to 21,700 square feet. Strong expects the company to add 40 to 45 jobs.

Glasstream’s facility in Panama City, Fla., has remained shuttered since Hurricane Michael hit the area last October. Strong said the plant “fared better than a lot of companies” in Panama City, but all builds are being done in Dothan until repairs can be completed.

“We had to keep on moving. We had commitments to fill,” she said. “We hope to get Panama City back up and running in the next year.”

The extension in Dothan will serve as a new lamination area and a place to store molds.